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Lot Essay

This portrait has traditionally been identified as the mother of Doctor Hector Evans but it has been suggested that this could be his wife, Miss Harris. The letter is inscribed 'Saffron Walden', the Essex town from which the family came, and in a letter dated 1832 Constable wrote to Leslie 'Evans is to be married to Miss Harris on Saturday week. I am invited to the breakfast, when the happy couple mean to set off on a scramble all over the country...'. The age of the sitter would seem to confirm this subsequent identification.